Gourmet Odyssey

We spent an excellent week-end in Chinon for a Vinification Experience Day where we would learn about all of the work and skill that enables the winemaker to transform the grape juice collected at harvest time into wine, and then age it until it is ready for bottling.

After a welcome over coffee and croissants, Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker and owner of Château de la Bonnelière, took us to the fermentation hall. Here he explained how the grapes are received at harvest time and put into the vats. At Château de la Bonnelière, the grapes from each vineyard are kept separate for the most part to make a range of wines that express the different terroir.

We discussed how the grape juice ferments to produce wine, and how Marc monitors and controls the process to try and produce the best quality wines.

Marc then took us to the hall next door where we saw the bottling and labelling machine that is used at the end of the process, once the wines are finally ready.

The Vinification Experience Day is a fascinating day when we get the chance to taste wines that are still in the ageing process. To help prepare us, we participated in a workshop to develop our wine tasting skills, which included a fun game to try and identify different aromas that can be found in wine.

We then headed outside to the Clos de la Bonnelière vineyard that surrounds the château. This is where our adopted vines are to be found, and so we took a few minutes to find them and take some photos!

The wines at Château de la Bonnelière are aged in the cellar that is located directly underneath the Chinon Fortress in one of the galleries where the stone had been extracted to build the castle above. So we transferred to the cellar, where a glass of the winery’s Perle Sauvage naturally sparkling white wine was awaiting us.

We then sat down to a delicious lunch prepared by a local caterer and friend of Marc’s, during which we tasted the 2017 Silice Chinon white wine, and the 2018 La Roche, 2017 Clos de la Bonnelière and 2016 Chapelle Chinon red wines.

After lunch Marc explained the role of the barrels in ageing wine, and the perfect conditions that his cellar provides. He also explained a brief history of the cellar, and how it was excavated, entirely by hand.

We ended the day with a tasting of different wines to better understand the work of the winemaker in ageing and preparing the wines for bottling. The first wine was the same La Roche 2018 wine that we had tasted over lunch, the only difference being that it had been drawn from a vat, and had not yet been prepared for bottling. We could taste that it wasn’t quite as polished, and still had some residual gas in it that Marc will remove before it is bottled.

We then tasted a second wine that was richer and more complex. The second wine was the 2018 Clos de la Bonnelière, which is the wine that the 2018 vintage Gourmet Odyssey clients will receive next year. The main difference between the first two wines was the way in which they are aged. The former in stainless steel vats, and the second in oak barrels.

The third wine, the Chapelle, is aged in the same way as the Clos de la Bonnelière, but was darker in colour and more intense, the difference arising from the terroir where the grapes used for the Chapelle wine are grown.

The fourth and final wine was different again which a much more tannic structure. This wine was the Vindoux Intégrale, a wine that Marc makes whereby the grapes are put directly into a large barrel at harvest time, the wine staying in the barrel throughout the fermentation and ageing phases.

All of the wines were made using the same grape varietal, Cabernet Franc, but it’s amazing the range of tastes and aromas that can be found depending on the different terroir or choices that the winemaker takes when making and ageing his wines. A fascinating day and a great insight into the life of a winemaker. Many thanks to Marc for sharing his passion with us.

Follow this link to find out more about the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience

Wine-making can be summed up as the art of producing the best quality grapes from the terroir and climate for a given year, and then taking the necessary decisions and actions to transform the juice from those grapes into wine. We spent last Saturday at Domaine de la Guicharde in the Rhone Valley for a Vinification Experience Day to learn all about the work in the cellar from harvest time through to when the wine is ready for bottling and labelling before being sent to customers and restaurants all over the world.

After the introductions, we sat down for a workshop to better understand the different senses that we call upon when wine tasting, especially the importance of our nose. We had to identify different aromas that can be found in red and white wines, and we learnt the ones that are most typical for different grape varietals, and some of the aromas that can be attributed to ageing in oak barrels.

We then headed to the fermentation hall, where the wine-maker, Arnaud, described how the grapes had been received at harvest time and explained their different journeys into the vats depending on whether they were destined to make white or red wine.

The grapes for red wine are separated from their stalks, and then put whole into the vats. Côtes du Rhône wines are generally a blend of at least two different grape varietals, the ratios varying depending on the different appellations. The Massif d’Uchaux appellation selected for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience at Domaine de la Guicharde has to have at least 50% Grenache and can be blended with other regional grape varietals such as Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan or Cinsault.

There are two main schools of thought for blending. You either blend as soon as possible after the harvest or you wait until the just before bottling. Arnaud is a proponent of the former, and the grapes from different plots and grape varietals are selected and mixed together at harvest time or shortly afterwards. This, he argues, gives a more harmonious wine because the wine has fermented and aged together for the whole of the wine-making process.

The human aspect and skill of the wine-maker is important and as Arnaud reminded us, if left on its own, grape juice will naturally transform itself into vinegar! Arnaud talked about how the grape juice is turned into wine during the fermentation process and showed us the analysis that is carried out for each vat to track measurements such as the sugar density, alcoholic volume, and temperature. He also explained how the carbon dioxide that is released during fermentation, pushes the solid matter of pips and skin to the top of the vats. The skins contain the pigment and tannins necessary to give the wine structure and colour, and so we learnt how the wine is drawn from the bottom of the vat and pumped back into the top to extract more of the tannins and colour.

The grapes made for making white wine are treated differently. The whole bunches are put into the press, where the juice is separated from the skin and pips, placed into a vat, and left to settle. Once the remaining solid particles have fallen to the bottom of the vat, the juice is drawn off and put into another vat to go through the fermentation phase.

Arnaud then drew off some of the wines from the vats, and we tasted them to better understand how they change during the ageing process. It’s a really interesting experience as we don’t normally get the chance to taste unfinished wines.

After this full morning, it was time for lunch, so we headed to the courtyard and sat down to an excellent lunch of chicken terrine, 7 hour cooked lamb shank, cheese, and chocolate tart, which had been prepared for us by a local restaurant. We tasted the range of white, red and rosé wines over lunch, including the Terroir du Miocène Côtes du Rhône Massif d’Uchaux Village red wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.

Arnaud took us on a walk through the vineyards after lunch, describing the different soil types and showing us the remnants of a beach on the way. At the top of the hill, we arrived at the vineyard where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are located. We took a few minutes to take some pictures with our vines, before making our way back to the winery.

We ended the day back in the chai, where Arnaud explained how the wine is prepared for bottling, and we then saw the labelling machine in action and learnt about the different regulations for labels depending on where the wine is to be sold.

Many thanks to Arnaud for a very informative day. We’ll think a little bit differently the next bottle of wine we open!

Interested in participating in a Vinification Experience day in the Rhone Valley or giving an adopt-a-vine gift? More information on the Wine Experience.

A new year starts and so the work in the vineyard for the new vintage gets underway. We met up at Château Coutet in Saint-Emilion to learn more about the work of the winemaker in the vineyard during a Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience day.

We made our introductions over a coffee and croissant. Mark, Gourmet Odyssey’s founder, and Benoît explained the programme in store and presented the winery that we would roam through during the day.

The passion of the winemaker, Adrien, was plain to see from the outset as he recounted the long history of his family that have cultivated the vineyards organically ever since their arrival at Château Coutet several hundred years ago.

We made our way through the vines up to the limestone plateau, the terroir that is home to all of the greatest wines from this legendary appellation. On the way, Adrien showed us the three types of soil that the winery’s vineyards cover.

The weather has been glorious since the beginning of February in the Bordeaux region, the temperatures rising to 20°c at times. We can feel spring itching to get started, and the flight of cranes coming back from Africa can once again be seen in the sky. These are signs that the winemaker must hurry to finish pruning the vines before the buds start to burst and the vegetative cycle begins again.

Pruning is the starting point of what we will find a few years later in our glasses, and particular care needs to be taken during this crucial phase. The choice of which branches we keep will determine the amount of grapes that are produced this year, and you also have to carefully choose the branches to make spurs that will prepare the pruning for next year. We quickly learnt that pruning isn’t as easy as it would at first appear!

Once the vines have been pruned, the cut branches need to be removed. This is a task that is much more physical and enabled everyone to warm up, as the sun was being a little shy in the morning. The tendrils in the plot of Cabernet Franc were particularly tough, and we had to use all our strength sometimes to prise them away from the training wires and leave the vineyard tidy for this years’ growth.

We placed the branches that we had pulled away from the vines in the middle of every other row. They will then be crushed to return nutrients to the soil.

Our adopted vines are located in the Peycocut vineyard, surrounded by the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé vineyards. The view is magnificent in this picture postcard landscape, and the photos that we each took in front of our adopted vines will be a nice reminder of our day.

Some of the vineyard plots at the winery are worked by horse to produce the grapes that are used to make a very special wine at Château Coutet. As Adrien talked about this wine, everyone listened attentively and the taste buds started to salivate in anticipation of tasting it.

The sun finally broke through, and so we enjoyed our first wine tasting on the lawn in front of the château. A nice fresh Claret de Coutet rosé wine to set us up for lunch.

We started the meal with a foie gras starter, accompanied by the Belles Cimes 2015 wine, which is the winery’s lighter second wine, produced from the younger vines. We then climbed the grades with the 2014 vintage and the excellent 2015 vintage of the Château Coutet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, which paired very well with the duck. With cheese, we rejoiced with the 2014 Demoiselles wine which hails from the limestone vineyard on the plateau that is worked by horse. The extremely delicate and velvety tannins swirled around our mouths as we gave our taste buds to a real treat!

After lunch, we returned to the vineyard to learn about the different steps that will be taken to nurture the vines between now and the harvest. We also took the time to discuss what is involved in working organically, and the problems that that causes in a region such as Bordeaux where the relatively wet climate is heavily influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic ocean.

We ended the day with a visit of the fermentation hall, barrel room, and family cellar, to gain an insight into the work that is in store for us once the grapes are harvested at the end of the summer.

Many thanks to Adrien for this great day. We look forward to coming back soon.

For St Valentine’s Day this year, why not give an experience to ensure that you get to share a great moment that you will both cherish for a long time to come? Here are a few original St Valentine’s gift ideas to give and to live!

For lovers of all things gourmet

Rather than giving a box of chocolates, it’s possible to make your own chocolates, perfectly suited to your own taste. For those that love the heat of the action, join the kitchen staff for a night in a top restaurant in France and book a backstage cooking course.

If you’re starting to think of your future together as a couple, adopt your own vines and get involved in making your own personalised bottles of organic wine in an award-winning winery in France. And for those who love a nice cup of tea, create your own tea blend with an expert mixologist!

For nature lovers

Nothing better than a nice walk to spend some quality time together, so set off for a night-time walk and let yourselves be led by the moon and stars, or venture to Norway and marvel at the magic of the Northern Lights.

For city lovers

Head off for a romantic weekend city break in Europe, soak up the culture, take the time to watch the world go by, and immerse yourself in the local culinary scene.

During the Wine Experience days at our partner wineries, our customers have the chance to see and work their adopted vines. It’s also the opportunity to take a few pictures for our annual “My Vine” photo competition, and at stake is the hope of winning a magnum of wine from the winery where their adopted vines are located. Once again we have had lots of great moments shared together and many laughs. Thank you for all of the wonderful photos that we received!

We have picked 25 for the competition final, and there will eventually be two winners.One will be chosen by the Gourmet Odyssey team for the most original photo, and the other winner will be the photo that receives the most likes on our Facebook page. So it’s now up to you to vote for your preferred photo!

Take a look at the finalists and vote for your favourite photo on the Gourmet Odyssey Facebook page before 12:00 (French time) on the 10th December. Be careful to like the individual photo and not the whole album!

The two winners will receive a magnum of wine from the winery where they have their Wine Experience.

Come back on the 10th December to see the winning pictures!

The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience days are hands-on wine courses at our partner wineries, where you learn all about the hard work that goes into making a bottle of organic wine. Depending on the type of day, you can get involved in working in the vineyard to prune the vines, participate in the harvest, or learn about the work in the cellar to ferment, age, blend and bottle the wines. Follow this link for more information about our wine courses.

If you’re thinking of giving a wine related Christmas gift to someone special this year, adopt some organic vines for them in one of Gourmet Odyssey’s award-winning French vineyards. The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience gets you behind the scenes at one of our organic partner wineries to follow and participate in the making of your own personalised bottles of vintage wine. It’s a great Christmas present to discover and appreciate all of the work that goes into making a bottle of organic wine, and enables you to live the dream of being a winemaker for a year.

Adopt some organic vines

Adopt some vines and follow their progress as they produce the grapes that will make the wine for your personalised vintage, a Christmas gift that is sure to please all wine lovers. Via the customer portal, you can accompany the vines up to the harvest, and then you’ll learn about how the wine ferments and ages in the cellar. Each stage of the wine making process is explained in the newsletter, and you can also include wine experience days at the winery to spend the day with the winemaker and participate in helping to make your wine.

We have chosen to only work with winemakers who produce organically or biodynamically certified wines, who have been recognised for the quality of their wines in the most prestigious wine competitions, guides and reviews, and that have been selected for their enthusiasm and desire to share their passion for their profession. This all makes for an exceptional experience!

How to choose the right Christmas Wine Experience gift?

There are many different options for this unique wine-making present. First select if you want to give a red or white wine experience for your Christmas gift, then pick the wine-making region and winery. You can then choose the number of adopted vines and personalised bottles of wine that you wish to include. One vine gives one bottle of personalised wine.

You can also include up to three wine experience days at the winery with the winemaker and our oenologist. Each wine course lasts from 09:30 to 16:00, includes lunch and wine tasting, and is valid for two people. There are three types of day to choose from. The Discovery Experience Day focuses on the work in the vineyard to prepare the vines for harvest and includes hands-on participation in work such as pruning, de-budding, or training the vines. The Harvest Experience Day gets you involved in picking the grapes and learning about the work in the chai at harvest time to receive the grapes and start the fermentation process. The third option is the Vinification Experience Day which sees you participate in different workshops to discover the art of tasting, ageing, blending and bottling wine.

An unforgettable Christmas gift

It’s not just us who think so :-)! Take a look at the customer feedback we have received from our clients, press articles, or the wine reviews of our partner winemakers. We have been developing and delivering our Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience since 2009, forging strong links with our partner winemakers and our team of passionate oenologists to create the best possible experience for our customers.

Together we organise unforgettable, fun, and interactive days at the winery to learn all of the hard work and skill that goes into making a quality wine.

Order with confidence

Ordering is easy in just a few clicks, and then we do the rest:

- The welcome packs are sent out with 24 hours on working days
- There is a gift wrapping option with a personalised message possible
- For last minute gifts, we can send you the vine adoption certificate by email
- You can pay for your order in three instalments

The personalised welcome pack that we will send to your preferred address, contains some gifts to be enjoyed straight away: a DropStop, re-usable glass wine stopper, wine cooling bag, adoption certificate and personalised guide to explain the wine adventure that awaits!

Learn more about the Adopt-a-Vine Christmas gift

Visit our web site to learn more about the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, to place an order, or to consult our Christmas delivery deadlines .

Further questions? We are available from 09:00 to 18:00 Paris time, Monday to Friday on +33 (0)1 46 27 05 92 or contact us on our web site.

The Salon ViniBio (in French only) wine fair showcases organic and biodynamic wines from more than 70 winemakers who produce their wines with passion whilst respecting the environment and the health of the people who work in their vineyards. The 3rd edition of this annual fair will take place in Paris at the Porte de Versailles conference centre from the 14-16 December 2018. Gourmet Odyssey will also have a stand and we would love to welcome you to present our Wine Experiences or to catch up with existing clients.

The ViniBio wineries all have the official Agriculture Biologique organic certification and Demeter certification for those that are also biodynamic. Gourmet Odyssey partners exclusively with organic or biodynamic wineries, and so the ViniBio wine fair is the ideal event to discover our original, informative, and fun adopt-a-vine gift, the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.

The wine fair has also partnered with the Noel en Bio organic Christmas gift fair this year, so it’s the perfect place to stock up on your environmentally friendly organic Christmas presents!

Presentations and wine tastings at the 2018 wine fair

During the 3 days of the wine fair, ViniBio will put on a series of presentations and tastings animated by wine experts, sommeliers and journalists. You can discover the programme of the wine fair on this page (French only).

Château Coutet, our partner winery in the Bordeaux region producing Saint-Emilion Grand Cru wines will also be attending the wine fair to present their range of delicious organic wines, and Château Coutet’s charismatic and passionate winemaker, Adrien David Beaulieu, will be speaking in one of the conferences about the unique biodiversity at the winery that has been preserved throughout the centuries thanks to no chemical products having ever been used at the winery.

Come and visit us on our stand. We’d love to see you, and we’ll have a few surprises up our sleeves for the event!

We’re now entering the final stretch of the year, and with it the annual end-of-year wine fairs. Our partner wineries will be travelling throughout France and Belgium to share their delicious organic wines. And Gourmet Odyssey will also be present at the Vinibio salon in Paris just before Christmas. We’d love to see you there!

Here are all the dates for the rest of the year:

The Salon des Vignerons Indépendants wine fairs promote independent wineries that directly manage the whole process from working in the vineyard, through harvesting the grapes, working in the cellar, bottling the wines and selling their wines themselves. Domaine de la Guicharde, from the Côtes du Rhône region, will be on the stand B62.

Organised by the Annecy Lac Lions Club each year since 1998, this year’s wine fair includes 98 winemakers and gourmet artisan producers from France and abroad, who will present their best wines. Our Burgundy partner, Domaine Chapelle, will be there.

As usual at this time of year, Domaine Chapelle will present their organic Burgundy wines in the Hôtel Napoléon, just next to Paris’ Champs-Elysées. The Domaine Remorquiet and Domaine Coste Caumartin will also be present.
Entrance by invitation only. Contact us.

The Independent Winemakers Fair makes its stop in Paris at the end of November. Among the participating wineries, you’ll find our partners, Domaine Stentz-Buecher on stand M 4, and Château de la Bonnelière from the Loire Valley on stand F 14.

To get into the Alsace Christmas spirit without leaving Paris, just go the Gare de l’Est. Authentic Alsace winemakers and producers provide all of the Alsace Christmas gourmet food and wine treats that this great culinary region has to offer. Domaine Stentz-Buecher awaits your visit!

Salon Capvin – Belgium, Mouscron – 7-9 December

Domaine de la Guicharde, from the Cotes du Rhone region will present their biodynamic wine at the wine fair in Belgium that also helps to raise funds for Cap48.

Salon Vinibio - Paris, Portes de Versailles – 14-16 December 2018

This excellent organic wine fair has partnered with the « Noël en bio » organic Christmas gift wine fair in Paris. Our Bordeaux partner winery from Saint-Emilion, Château Coutet, will present their wines, and Gourmet Odyssey will also have a stand to present our original Christmas gift ideas for wine lovers.

We spent a great weekend picking the grapes in Saint-Emilion for the Harvest Experience Days at Château Coutet. As we were to learn, there is much more to harvesting than just picking grapes, particularly when you’re trying to make a wine as closely as possible to one that was made almost 300 years ago. But more of that later.

After the introductions, we headed up the grassy track onto the limestone plateau where Saint-Emilion’s finest vineyard plots are located. This is where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are to be found, in the Peycocut vineyard. We took a few minutes to find our micro-plot of adopted merlot vines, to take a few pictures.

We then headed to a neighbouring cabernet franc vineyard plot, and equipped ourselves with a pair of secateurs and crate to put the harvested grapes in. We listened intently to the instructions to learn which grapes to pick, and which to leave. The mildew that had set in in the spring had meant that we had to be particularly attentive in sorting out the grapes that had dried up to become as hard as peppercorns. To the chagrin of the winemaker, in a year that the harvest is much smaller than usual, it also takes much more time to pick the grapes as you have to be that much more selective.

As we picked the grapes we chatted away and asked the winemakers lots of questions covering a wide range of subjects such as the work in the vineyard, the surrounding Saint-Emilion vineyards, being organic, and the David-Beaulieu’s long history with the winery stretching back over 15 generations.

Once we had filled our crates, we took them to the trailer to be stacked carefully so as to not crush the grapes. Our reward? Another crate to keep us busy! Once the bell from one of the nearby clock towers had chimed, we downed tools, and followed our precious harvest back down the hill to the winery.

A welcome glass of wine, the 2015 vintage of the winery’s second wine, Château Belle-Cimes, was waiting for us, which we enjoyed in the park between the château and the vineyard. During the tasting, we learnt about the incredible story of Cuvée Eméri, a bottle of wine found in the family cellar that dates back to 1750, and that is still full thanks to the glass stopper used to seal the bottle. The family has recreated the wine and bottle as closely as possible to how it would have been originally made, and the grapes that we had picked in the morning were destined to help make the 2018 vintage of the Cuvée Emeri.

We then sat down to a delicious lunch prepared on-site by the excellent local caterer, where we tasted some of the other wines. To start, we had a winemaker’s salad with smoked bacon and soft poached egg, served with the round and elegant 2014 Château Coutet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru red wine. Then for the main course we enjoyed guinea fowl with a foie-gras and wild mushroom sauce and a medley of seasonal vegetables, served with the more structured 2015 vintage of the same wine. With the cheese and chocolate desert, we were privileged to taste the 2014 vintage of the Cuvée Demoiselle, which is the same wine that goes into the Cuvée Emeri, the only difference being the glass bottle itself. Not your average harvester’s lunch!

Harvest time at the winery isn’t just about picking grapes as we were about to find out. Underneath the awning that had been erected outside the chai, the grapes that we had picked were awaiting for us. Several stations had been set up and we gathered around to listen to the instructions. As the grapes were destined for the Cuvée Emeri, they were to be dealt with in a special manner. Instead of using the sorting table and de-stemming machine, our grapes were to be sorted by hand, berry by berry. By hand picking only the very best of the grapes, and removing any that weren’t ripe enough or had been affected by the mildew, the winemaker can significantly improve the quality of the resulting wine, particularly in a difficult year such as this one.

Hand sorting the grapes is however a very time consuming way of doing things, and therefore costly. We therefore saw how the same job can be done by machine before heading into the chai. Here we learnt how the grapes are put into the different vats, and the juice turned into wine during the fermentation period, and the work done to extract the colour and tannins from the skins during maceration.

We ended the day in the barrel room for a quick introduction to the work that will be covered in more detail during the Vinification Experience Days to age, blend, and prepare the wines to be ready for bottling. There is still lots that needs to be done before we have our personalised bottles of wine in our hands!

Interested in participating in the harvesting the grapes in Saint-Emilion or giving an adopt-a-vine gift? More information on the Wine Experience.

We had fantastic Harvest Experience Day last weekend in the heart of the Rhone Valley at Domaine de la Guicharde. The grapes were ripe for picking, the sun was shining, and the apprentice harvesters all in fine fettle.

After a brief introduction to the day and the winery, we made our way up the track to the Miocène vineyard, admiring the views across to Mont Ventoux and the Dentelles de Montmirail along the way. When we arrived we noticed that name plates had been put in front of some of the vines, marking where each of our adopted vines were to be found. We took a few minutes to visit our vines, admire the grapes that they had produced, and to take a few photos.

Arnaud then explained how to harvest the grapes using the secateurs and bucket that we had each been given. Fully equipped and briefed, we spread out between the vine rows and started to cut the grape bunches, being careful to avoid our fingers in the process!
We were picking Grenache Noir grapes. A quick taste of the sweet grapes revealed that they had a good sugar level, and by looking at the pips, their brown colour confirmed that they were ripe. The quality was good, but the quantity was less than in a usual year due to the mildew that had attacked the vineyard earlier in the year during the wet spring weather. Domaine de la Guicharde had been relatively lucky though in comparison to some of the neighbouring vineyards.

The buckets soon filled up, and once there was no more room, we passed them underneath the rows where they were emptied into one of the trailers. As we gained in confidence, the speed picked up, and we had soon filled the first trailer.

Once we reached the end of the row, we stopped for a welcome glass of water before starting the next row. Before we knew it, we had reached the end of the morning, and so we made our way back to the winery, following behind the tractor and our precious harvest. We watched the grapes make their way through the de-stemming machine to separate the berries from the stems, and into the vat where they will begin the process to turn the grape juice into wine.

In the shady courtyard of the winery, Isabelle had prepared a well-earned chiled glass of rosé, followed by a glass of the Pur Rouge 2016 wine. We continued the tasting of the winery’s biodynamic wines over lunch which had been prepared by the excellent local restaurant “Le Temps de Vivre”. To accompany the millefeuille of aubergine, fresh goat’s cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and courgette coulis, we savoured the Genest 2016 red wine. We then compared it to the 2014 Genest wine in a magnum with the main course of veal and mushroom risotto. With the cheese platter, we enjoyed the Autour de la Chapelle 2016 white wine, and to accompany the home-made chocolate mousse, we finished with the 2015 Terroir du Miocène, the Massif d’Ucahux Côtes du Rhône Villages wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.

We returned to the chai in the afternoon to learn about the work carried out there during harvest time. It’s not just about picking grapes. Arnaud explained how the grapes start to ferment, and the work done to keep the juice in contact with the skin during the maceration process. We learnt about the differences between making red, white and rosé wines.

The day ended with a discussion about biodynamic wine-making. The winery is certified by Demeter, and Arnaud explained how the work at the winery is organised around the lunar calendar, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. It’s a fascinating approach, and a subject about which Arnaud speaks with passion.

Many thanks to Isabelle and Arnaud for their warm welcome, and to all of the participants for their work and good spirits. We look forward to returning next year to see how the wines are progressing during the Vinification Experience Days.

Interested in participating in the harvest in France or giving an original gift to a wine lover? More information on the Wine Experience.

The harvest season is underway in most of France’s wine growing regions. The hot and sunny summer has meant that the grapes have ripened quicker than normal, and so the harvest has started earlier. This is notably so in Alsace which is a month ahead of what would normally be expected. We joined the winemakers at Domaine Stentz-Buecher last weekend for a Gourmet Odyssey Harvest Experience Day to get involved in picking the grapes and to learn about what else goes on at the winery during harvest time.

As always we were warmly welcomed by the Stentz family, before heading out into the vineyard. Our first stop was to visit the Rosenberg vineyard, where our adopted vines are located. We spent a few minutes to find the name plate that designated our individual micro-plots of adopted vines.

Then it was time to get equipped. Céline and her father, Jean-Jacques, handed out a pair of secateurs and a bucket each, and then explained how to harvest the grapes. The instructions were somewhat simpler than usual due to the exceptionally high quality of the grapes. The warm and dry weather had meant that there had been no mould or fungi that had developed, and so the grapes were in perfect shape. We were picking the Pinot Noir grapes that will be used to make the Pinot Noir Tradition wine. Packed with sugar, we bit into them to see for ourselves how ripe they were. We could also see that the pips had turned brown, another sign that they were ready for picking.

And so we spread out among the vine rows, and started to pick the grapes, placing one hand under the bunch and using the other to cut the stem above, the best way to avoid any little accidents! Not only were the grapes in good health, each bunch was also very full.

The buckets quickly filled up, and once full we shouted out “Videz” and passed them underneath the vines to be passed on to the row in the middle where the tractor and trailer were waiting. Once the grapes had been emptied into the trailer, the empty basket then made its way back under the vines to be filled again. At times it was difficult to keep up with the flow of full buckets being passed along!

The trailer filled up more quickly than anticipated, and as we waited for the replacement one, we refreshed ourselves with some water and a taste of the 2017 Pinot Blanc that Jean-Jacques had kept chilled in the ice chest. Then back to work to finish the plot.

Once that last grapes had been picked, we followed their journey back to the winery. Here the trailer was slowly emptied into the de-stemming machine which separates the berries from the stems. Because the grapes were so compact and dense, the machine had to work harder than normal, and so it took a little longer.

Stéphane took a sample of the juice from the grapes and measured the sugar density using a mustimeter. The reading predicts that the wine will be somewhere between 14° and 14.5° in alcoholic volume.

By this time, we had earned our aperitif! A nice cold fresh glass of Crémant d’Alsace before, sitting down to lunch outside in the winery courtyard. During lunch, we tasted a range of wines from the winery including the Pinot Blanc Tradition 2016, the Pinot Gris Rosenberg 2016, and the Pinot Noir Tradition 2016 made using last year’s harvest from the same vineyard where we had picked the grapes. We then tasted a delicious Sylvaner Veilles Vignes 2012 and a Riesling Steingrubler Grand Cru 2009, before ending with a Gewurztraminer Hengst Grand Cru 2009. A great tasting that showed the depth and variety of the Alsace wines.

After lunch, Stephane led us down into the cellar, where we could see where the grapes start the fermentation process. He explained the difference between how the grapes are received for making white and red wine, and then talked us through the two different processes.

We ended the day in the cellar where the white wines ferment and age. A chorus of gurgles from the fermenting wines accompanied Stéphane’s explanations. We’ll be spending much more time in this room at the beginning of next year for the Vinification Experience Days, where we’ll learn all about the fermentation and ageing processes, as well as the work involved in bottling and labelling the wine.

Interested in participating in the grape harvest or giving an adopt-a-vine gift? More information on the Wine Experience.

We spent another great Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience weekend in Saint-Emilion at Château Coutet with the David Beaulieu family. They have been making wine here for over 400 years and have a unique story to tell, not just from the 14 generations of wine-makers, but also because they have always been organic and have never used any chemical products on their vines. We were to hear more about what makes Château Coutet unique throughout the day, but the main focus was on learning about all of the work in the vineyard needed to nurture the vines and produce the best possible grapes at harvest time.

After the introductions, we made our way through the vineyards and up the hill. On the way, we learnt about the different grape varietals of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec that are grown on the estate, and we marvelled at the trees and hedgerows that help to make up the special ecosystem of the winery. Around 20% of the winery’s surface area is voluntarily set aside from growing vines to preserve and encourage the biodiversity, which in turn helps maintain a natural equilibrium.

From the top of the hill, we had a good vantage point over the plain below, stretching past Libourne to Fronsac, and across the Dordogne River into the Entre Deux Mers wine-growing region. Here we learnt the role that the landscape plays in influencing the weather in Saint-Emilion, and could see how the soil changes from the sandy loam flood plain, to the clay limestone on the side of the hill, to the limestone plateau at the top. The vines at Château Coutet grow on these three distinct terroir.

Up on the plateau, we made our way to the Peycocut vineyard, one of the 12 reference vineyards in Saint-Emilion, traditionally used by the Jura to determine the date for the harvest. This is where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are located, and we took a few minutes to visit our vines, admire the views of the rolling vineyards, and take a few pictures.

The work in the vineyard began during the cold winter months with pruning. We learnt how this is done, and were brought up to speed on the other work accomplished so far this year to de-bud the vines, raise the training wires, and work the soil.

The past few months have been warm and wet. This has meant that the vines have grown rampantly, but it is also been the ideal conditions for mildew to flourish. Whilst walking in the vineyards we could see some of the tell-tale yellow spots on the vine leaves. With the heavy downpours of rain, it hasn’t always been possible to get the tractor into the vineyard to treat the vines when needed. As the vineyard is organic and the bouillie bordelaise used to protect the vines from mildew is a contact product, it gets washed away and needs to be reapplied after each 20mm of rain.

Another way to help reduce the spread and impact of mildew is to remove some of the leaves around the grapes, which improves the air flow and speeds up the drying time after any rain. This was the job that had been set aside for us, and we were shown how to do so. The first factor to take into consideration is the alignment of the vines. In the Bordeaux region the summer months can get very hot with strong sunshine. The leaves are therefore only removed on the east facing side which receives the gentler morning sun. The leaves are kept on the other side to protect the grapes from the more powerful afternoon sun. The leaves to be removed are those directly in front of the grapes and any which touch the grapes and could transport moisture to the grapes from the rest of the plant.

After watching the winemakers do this expertly, we spread out in pairs to have a go ourselves. It’s not the most intellectually demanding task, but we soon learnt that it’s more physically demanding that you might think, and that there is a real technique needed to go fast.

We then headed back to the winery, and enjoyed a well earned glass of chilled Clairet rosé wine in the shade of the magnificent trees in the chateau’s garden.

Lunch was delicious as usual, prepared on site by the excellent caterers. We had foie-gras with fig chutney and savoury breads for starter, followed by magret de canard with a 4 spice sauce, mashed potato with truffle oil, and garden vegetables. To accompany these dishes, we tasted the Château’s second wine, Belles-Cîmes 2015, and compared the 2014 and 2015 vintages of the Château Coutet. We then tasted the Cuvée Demoiselle 2014 with the cheese and dessert.

After lunch, we talked some more about how the winery is managed organically, and has always been so since time began. We also learnt about the work left to do in the vineyard before the harvest, and how the winemakers will tell when the grapes are ripe enough to be picked.

The day ended with a quick visit of the chai, family cellar, and barrel room. The family cellar is full of old vintage wines going back over the past 50 years or so, and everyone tried to find the bottles from their birth years.

For our last wine Discovery Experience Day of the summer at the winery, we were welcomed warmly by the winemakers and we had glorious sunshine beaming down in us. After the introductions and coffee outside, we made our way into the vineyard.

As we walked through the vineyard, we learnt about how the year has been shaping up so far. With the alternating rain and hot weather in May and June, the vines have seen some mildew form on them, and we could see the tell tale spots on the leaves, and noticed that some of the grapes had also been touched. Mildew loves hot and damp conditions.

We arrived in the Mazet vineyard, where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are located. The Syrah vines are less susceptible to the mildew and fortunately there was hardly any trace of it on the leaves. After taking a few photos, we learnt about the work that has already been done to prune, de-bud and support the vines using the training wires as we continued our walk through the vineyard.

Opposite the winery buildings, there is a plot of young Grenache vines that had been planted last year, and that will not come into production until the 2019 harvest. Lots of grapes have already started to form on these small vines, but the priority for now is to help them develop their root system.

So armed with a pair of harvesting secateurs, we cut the bunches of un-ripened grapes from the vines. Sacrificing this tiny harvest this year will help the plants become stronger in anticipation of better harvests later.

After the effort, the reward. During lunch prepared by Delphine, we tasted different wines from the winery.

We visited the cellar after lunch to discover the vinification hall where the grapes are received at harvest time, and the barrel room where the wines age before being ready for bottling, but we’ll talk more about these aspects during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days.

For father’s day you might have already given your wine-loving Dad some nice bottles of wine, a wine tasting course, or a guided visit to a winery. This year, take it a whole leap further by adopting some organic vines in France and giving him a Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience Father’s Day gift. This enlightening and original present is also great for eco-friendly and gourmet Dads.

By adopting some vines, your Dad will follow the progress of his vines and the making of his own French organic wine for a wine-making year at one of our acclaimed organic wineries in France. Through our newsletters and photos, your Dad will learn about all of the key stages in making a great organic wine, from the work in the vineyard to the choices the winemaker takes in the cellar to ferment, age and prepare the wine before it is ready to be bottled.

At the end of the wine-making year, your Dad can choose the name of his wine, and will receive one personalised bottle of wine for each adopted vine.

To make the experience even more interactive, you can add one or more Wine Experience Days at the winery so your father can visit his adopted vines, meet the winemaker and get involved in working alongside him in the vineyard to nurture the vines or pick the grapes, or to learn about the work in the cellar.

Each Wine Experience Day lasts a full day from 9:30 to 16:00 and includes a wine tasting and full lunch at the winery. These fun days are valid for two people, and are an eye-opening immersion into the real life of a wine-maker!

All of our partner wineries are organically or biodynamically certified and produce wines that are often awarded medals or selected by the main wine guides. They take pride and pleasure in sharing the ins and outs of their profession with you.

Our Wine Experience Father’s Day gift begins with the reception of a welcome gift box containing a wine cooler bag, a re-usable glass wine-stopper, a Drop Stop and a personalised adoption certificate. Your Dad then starts his Wine Experience as soon as he activates his customer portal using the code contained in his welcome pack!

Delivery of the welcome pack takes two working days in France, and between 3 and 6 days for the rest of Europe. For any last minute Father’s Day gifts, we can send you the certificate by email.

Last weekend we were at Domaine de la Guicharde in the Rhone Valley for the very first wine experience day at Gourmet Odyssey’s new partner winery. The topic for the day was to learn about all of the work that happens in the vineyard to produce the best possible grapes at harvest time. As we were to learn there is much more to do than you might think, and with the winery being both organically and biodynamically certified, particular attention is paid to the well-being of the estate as a whole.

After the introductions to the day by Mark, the founder of Gourmet Odyssey and to the winery by Arnaud, the winemaker at Domaine de la Guicharde, we set off out into the vineyard. On the way we passed the olive grove which Arnaud nurtures to produce biodynamic olive oil. Arnaud had started working at 5:30 to prepare and dynamise a biodynamic silica treatment used to strengthen and invigorate the leaves. The vines had already been treated and as we walked by, we watched the olive trees being sprayed with the same dynamised water.

Arnaud explained the geological history of the Massif d’Uchaux wine-growing region, and how the surrounding area was covered in water during the Miocène era. He showed us the remnants of the ancient beach where shell fish can still be seen in the soil. Difficult to believe when you are looking out over the vines and garrigue towards the pre-Alps and the Mont Ventoux.

We then arrived in the vineyard where our adopted vines are located. The grapes picked in this plot are used to make the Terroir du Miocène red that is the wine chosen for the personalised wine bottles included in the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. A name plate had been put in front of each micro-plot of vines and we took a few minutes to find our vines, take a few photos and encourage them to produce a good harvest this year!

Arnaud then explained the work that had been carried out in the vineyard during the winter to work the soil, prune the vines using the cordon de royat method, and repair the trellis system used to train the vines.

With the hot weather of the past couple of weeks, the buds on the vines had burst into life, and were starting their growth phase when the branches can grow several centimetres per day. Sometimes the vines get a little over excited with all this growth, and stems grow from lower down on the vine stock, two branches grow from the same bud, or there are simply too many branches appearing on the vine. To limit the number of grapes that the vine will produce and improve the quality, it is necessary to remove the unwanted branches. This is known as de-budding, and Arnaud explained how to select which branches to remove.

We then spread out in the vineyard, two to a row, and had a go at de-budding ourselves. As with pruning, it is very easy to understand in practice, but more difficult when you have to make the decision yourself! Each vine is unique, and sometimes you need to leave a branch that in theory you would remove, but that might be useful in the future to reshape the vine or bring the fruit-bearing branches back close to the vine stock.

Arnaud then took us on a short walk through the vineyard to show the different grape varietals and how to identify them just by looking at their leaves. The Grenache vines that we had been working on were a lot greener and had a shiny coat, compared to the adjacent plot of Syrah that was slightly yellower, and had a soft velvet duvet on the underside.

It wasn’t just the vines that were enjoying the good weather. The grass and wild flowers were also flourishing in the vineyard, and we admired the beauty of the poppies dancing in the breeze.

After the morning’s activities, we made our way back to the winery, and convened in the shade of the courtyard for an aperitif and lunch, which had been prepared by the excellent local restaurant, Le Temps de Vivre. The first wine that we tasted was the Cotes du Rhone white, Au tour de la Chapelle 2017. During the starter, main course, cheese and desert courses, we then tasted Le 17 rosé 2017 wine, the Cotes du Rhone Pur Rouge 2017 red, followed by two Cotes du Rhone Villages Massif d’Uchaux red wines, the Genest 2016 and the wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, the Terroir du Miocène 2015.

In the afternoon, we ventured back into the vineyard. Arnaud explained the work to come between now and the harvest to raise the training wires, treat the vines, control the growth of the grass and wild flowers, potentially remove some of the leaves from the vines depending on the weather, and how to choose the date for the harvest.

We then spent a while talking about what is involved in organic and biodynamic wine-making. Arnaud is a passionate advocate of biodynamics and explained how he converted the winery and his reasons for doing so. He told us about the different preparations that are used to treat the vines and how the work in the vineyard is managed in coordination with the lunar calendar. We stopped to have a look at the dynamiser used to prepare the biodynamic tisanes.

We ended the day with a quick visit of the chai to see where the wine is made once the grapes have been picked. We’ll spend more time here during the Harvest Experience Day in September and the Vinification Experience Days next year.

Many thanks to Arnaud and all of the participants for making this such a great first wine experience day at Domaine de la Guicharde!

As spring begins, so a new cycle gets ready to start in the vineyard. There is much that the winemaker needs to do to nurture the vines and help them produce the best possible grapes for the coming harvest, as we were to learn during the Discovery Experience Day at Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Alsace.

After the introductions, we made our way to the Rosenberg vineyard, the plot where the adopted vines of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience are to be found. To get in some training for the Easter egg hunt to come next weekend, we spread out amongst the rows to find the nameplate that marks the exact location our micro plot of adopted vines!

Accompanied by Céline and her father, Jean-Jacques, winemakers at Domaine Stenzt-Buecher, we listened intently as we learnt about pruning the vines, which is the most difficult but most important of the jobs in the vineyard as it limits the potential quantity of grapes that will be produced and helps controls the shape and form of the vines growth. It is long job that takes up most of the winter months, but March marks the end of the pruning season as it has to be finished before the sap rises again.

Jean-Jacques had left a few vines for us to work on. Intellectually it is quite easy to understand the principals of pruning, but as we were to quickly find out, when you are the one standing in front of the vine and having to choose which branches to cut and which to leave, it suddenly becomes much more complicated!

The vines at Domaine Stentz-Buecher are pruned using the Double Guyot method. This involves leaving one long branch of six to eight eyes on either side of the vine and a spur, from which the branches used for the following year’s harvest will grow. When selecting which branches to keep, you need to take several factors into account. The lower branches are preferred to minimise the distance that the sap needs to flow, and to keep the vines at the same height as the neighbouring plants. Branches that grow along the same line as the training wire are favoured over ones that stick out into the middle of the passage between the rows, as these branches are more likely to get damaged by the passing tractor. The number of eyes left on the vine depends on its age and health...

Once the branches to be kept have been selected, all of the other branches are cut away. The next job involves pulling away the old wood from the trellis system, and putting the branches in the middle of the rows, a job that we all got stuck into with vigour! The branches will then be crushed to return nutrients to the soil.

Jean-Jacques then showed us how to arc and attach the remaining long branches to the bottom training wire using a great little tool that twists and cuts the wire, saving lots of time from having to hand tie each branch.

We also learnt about replacing vines, and visited a plot that had been replanted 3 years ago. Jean-Jacques talked about working the soil, and showed us where the earth had been heaped around the vines to protect them from the cold winter months. We finished the morning with a quick look at some of the tools and machinery that is attached to the tractor to help with the work in the vineyard.

After the full morning spent in the vineyard, we had earned our wine tasting. Céline and Stéphane, took us through a selection of the different wines produced at the winery starting with a Muscat 2015, followed by a Riesling Ortel 2014 and the 2015 vintage of the Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. We then tasted the Pinot Noir 2011 and Gewurztraminer Steingrubler 2015 Grand Cru, accompanied by a savoury Kouglof, a delicious Alsace specialty.

Over the lunch of typical Alsace dishes and cheeses, we continued the wine tasting with the Who Am I? wine, a blend of pinot blanc, pinot gris and Riesling grape varietals, and different vintages of the Pinot Noir and Gewurztraminer wines.

After lunch, we headed back out into the vineyard to learn about the work that remains to be done in the vineyard over the coming months to de-bud the vines, raise the training wires, remove some of the leaves depending on the weather, trimming the vines, and to discover how the moment the grapes are harvested is chosen. Stéphane also explained to us how the vines are treated organically to help protect them.

The day finished with a quick tour of the cellar to see where the grapes are pressed and where the wines ferment and are aged before being ready to be bottled. We’ll be spending more time here during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days. But in the meantime, the winemakers will be busy in the vineyard over the coming weeks, as the temperature rises, and the vines burst into life.

On the 18th March we were at Château de la Bonnelière in Chinon for the first of the wine experience days for the 2018 vintage. Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker, was on hand to open the doors to his winery and for us to find out from him what is involved in making organic wine.

Marc explained the history of this family winery, which was brought back to life in the 1980’s by his father. Thanks to him, after 60 years without any production, the first Château de la Bonnelière wine was bottled in 1989.

Today, Marc manages the 35 hectares of vines, all of which are nurtured organically. The vineyards are all situated on the left bank of the Vienne river, and the different plots with their differing terroir enable Marc to produce a range of wines, from lighter wines that are fruity and ready for drinking to more full bodied wines that are best left to age a while.

The Clos de la Bonnelière, which is the wine selected by Gourmet Odyssey for the adopt-a-vine experience, is made from 100% cabernet franc grapes, all of which come from the same plot of vines that are planted next to the château. The way that the vines are nurtured is of the utmost importance in assuring the optimal quality of grapes for the 2018 harvest.

The soil was worked over the winter period, and the pruning of the vines is finally coming to a close in March. There were still some rows left to prune in the Clos de la Bonnelière vineyard, and so Marc showed us how to select which branches to keep and which to cut away. Secateurs in hand, we learnt that the vines are pruned using the Guyot method, and had a go at pruning some of the vines for ourselves.

We then pulled away the cut branches from the vines and training wires. It’s a fairly physical task as the tendrils from last year had wrapped themselves tightly around the wires.

Marc then showed us some of the other vineyard plots, explaining along the way the work that remains to be done this summer and what being organic means in the way of looking after the vines.

The walking had given us all a good appetite, and so we headed to the cellar underneath the Chinon fortress, where Marc ages his wines. This magical venue was to be where we were to have lunch! During the delicious meal, prepared by Marc’s mum, we tasted the different range of Chinon wines from the winery.

In the afternoon, Marc showed us the different tools and machinery used to treat the vines and to work the soil in the vineyard. We saw the tractors, different ploughs, and other equipment that has been specially adapted to working in the vine rows.

And so a busy and instructive day drew to a close, and we left having a gained an insight into what being a wine-maker entails. We’ll leave Marc to continue his work until we’re back for the next Gourmet Odyssey wine experience day!

When you open a bottle of wine, you don’t always think about all of the work that has gone into making it. Everyone knows that at some stage there is the harvest, but to have the best possible grapes come harvest time, there is much work and effort that has gone into nurturing the vines along the way. But the harvest is not the end either, and marks the beginning of the wine-making side of things. There is more that goes on in the cellar than you might think to press the grapes, ferment the grape must, age the wines and prepare them for bottling, as we were to find out during the Vinification Experience Day in Chablis at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard last Saturday.

This wine experience day was split into different workshops to learn about everything that happens at the winery between the harvest and the wine being ready for bottling and labelling. And so the day started in the loading bay where the grapes are put into the wine presses. Odile, the head wine-maker at the winery, told us how the presses are controlled to extract the juice from the grapes.

We then learnt all about how the wines are settled and the wines are clarified to separate the juice from the larger solid particles of pips and skin that made it through the membrane of the press. Once this has happened the juice then continues its journey into one of the vats where it will remain during the fermentation process.

Odile explained how the sugar in the grape juice is transformed into alcohol over the following weeks.

Once the fermentation has finished, the wines are racked to separate them from the larger lee particles, and they are left to age on their finer lees to develop their depth and structure. To better understand the process she let us taste some of the wines directly from the vats, including the wine that we will end up with at the end of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. It’s a rare opportunity to taste wines in their unfinished state.

Before the wines are ready to be bottled, they are racked again and filtered to clarify them further, and to ensure that no impurities are left in the wine that might cause it to spoil in the bottle. We then made our way to the production line to see where the bottling takes place, and we discussed the merits of the different options of sealing the bottles, by cork, screw-cap or other materials.

After bottling, the wine is laid to rest again and then stored until ready for labelling. Odile showed us the labelling machine that sticks on the front and back label and adds the capsule on top of the bottles. The bottles are then boxed up and ready for sale or distribution. It’s an impressive sight!

The next workshop was to learn how to taste wine and prepare us for the wine tasting session to come. We use all of our senses when tasting wine, and we first put our noses to the test to try and identify different aromas found in white wine, either due to the different grape varietals or from having been aged in oak. It’s not as easy as you would think!

We then tasted different sweet, saline, acidic, and bitter solutions to see if there was any difference in where we could feel them in our mouths.

It was then time to taste the wines. We had three sets of wines to taste, and had to try and identify what the different factor was between the wines in each set. The wine tasting session had been organised to show the difference between terroir, grape varietals, and the way in which the wine is aged.

We tasted a wide range of different Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru wines, and continued the tasting over the delicious lunch which had been prepared at the winery by a local caterer.

After lunch, we took in some air, and headed out into the vineyard to meet our adopted vines. We took a few photographs and admired the surrounding landscape of rolling Chablis vineyards.

Back at the winery, we descended into the cellar where the far wall had been left bare, revealing the strata of limestone and marl that give the Chablis wines their character.

The final stop of the day was to visit the fermentation hall that houses the wooden casks for the wines that are aged in oak. Here Jean-Louis explained the role of the casks, and we had ended the day with a last wine tasting to see how the oak casks influence the structure of the wine.

It had been a fascinating day to have a glimpse of the life of a wine-maker. We’ll now have to wait patiently until our wine has finished ageing, but we’ll know that the wait has been worth it!

March always marks the change of season, and it is the last month that we can prune the vines in Burgundy before spring arrives and the vines start to grow again. It’s also a month that has very changeable weather, and fortunately for the adoptive vine parents, the temperatures were very mild for the first Discovery Experience Day of the 2018 vintage at Domaine Chapelle in Santenay, enabling us to get out into the vineyard and learn all about the work to nurture the vines.

After a brief introduction to this day focused on pruning and attaching the vines, Simon Chapelle, the son of Jean-François and future winemaker at the winery, recounted the history of the family winery and how the different Burgundy wine appellations are defined.

We then headed to the Clos des Cornières vineyard, accompanied by Simon and Yannick, the technical director at Domaine Chapelle. This is where our adopted pinot noir vines are located and we took a few minutes to take a few photos!

Split into two groups, Simon and Yannick then explained the work necessary in the vineyard during the winter and spring months to arrive at a quality harvest, and they told us how they work organically at the winery.

The Clos des Cornières vineyard produces the eponymous wine, and is planted solely with pinot noir vines, as in Burgundy, there is no blending of different grape varietals. The quality of the 2018 vintage therefore relies on the quality of grapes that will be harvested this autumn, and the quality is determined for a large part on the ever so important work of the moment, the pruning of the vines.

Simon and Yannick explained which branches to keep, which to cut and how many buds to leave on each vine. This will directly impact the yield of each vine. They also enlightened us as to the many questions that have to be answered when thinking about how to prune each vine. Armed with a pair of secateurs, it was then our turn to put the theory into practice! Despite some hesitation at first, we gradually started to get the hang of this difficult job!

After pruning the next task is to bend the branches that haven’t been cut away. We crossed the road to the neighbouring vineyard that is planted with chardonnay vines, and is more advanced in the pruning. This is also an important step because by folding the branch and attaching it to the bottom training wire, it helps ensure that the sap will flow more evenly among all of the future fruit-bearing canes, and that they will be better spaced to avoid disease from spreading.

We then headed back to the winery to enjoy an aperitif outside in the courtyard whilst soaking up more of the spring sunshine! Some gougères, a typical Burgundy shoe pastry specialty, and the winery’s Santenay Saint-Jean white wine delighted our taste buds!

We continued the local specialties over a tasty lunch of other local dishes of perch terrine, boeuf bourguignon, local cheeses and a chocolate and cassis entremet. Lunch was accompanied by a Burgundy 2016 red, a Santenay Clos des Cornières 2013, and a Santenay Premier Cru “Les Gravières” 2012.

After lunch we had a tour of the vinification hall and labyrinth of vaulted cellars underneath the winery to see where the wines ferment and age.

We’ll now leave it to the winemakers to continue to care for the vines, and wait for the grapes to develop and grow for the harvest. We’re looking forward to coming back already!

Last Saturday, we spent an enthralling day at Château Coutet in Saint-Emilion to learn all about the work and the choices the winemaker takes in the cellar to ferment, age, and blend the wine before it is ready for bottling. As we were to learn there is much more to do than you might think and a multitude of tools and techniques that the winemaker can pick from to influence the structure, taste and aromatic depth of the wine.

The day was split into several different workshops to explore different aspects of wine-making and wine tasting. In the fermentation hall, Alain David-Beaulieu, the winemaker at Château Coutet, explained how the grapes were received at harvest time and the work carried out during the maceration and fermentation phases.

He showed us the old press that has been used at the winery for over 100 years to press the marc left in the bottom of the vats after racking the wines. This gives the press wine that is aged separately, and held in reserve to be used if needed later on in the wine-making process.

Once the fermentation has finished, some of the lots of different grape varietals are pre-blended, and transferred into oak barrels. A mixture of new and old barrels that have already been used to make one or two wines are used at the winery, and Alain explained the role that the oak barrels play in wine-making. He talked about the work in the barrel room to stir the lees, top up the wine lost to the angel’s share, and the monitoring of the wines over time.

Before tasting the wines, we participated in a fun workshop that put our sense of smell to the test. We had to identify some of the aromas that can be found in wine, and learnt which ones were due to the grape varietal or terroir, and which were the result of being aged in oak.

In the fermentation hall, we gathered around some barrels for the wine tasting and wine blending workshop. First, we blind tasted three different wines, and had to identify which was the merlot, which the cabernet franc and which the malbec. Once we had learnt what characteristics each of these grape varietals displayed, we then had a go at blending them to see how the wine changes as the percentages of each grape varietal vary.

We then blind tasted three other 2017 wines that had just finished the fermentation process. Exactly the same wine but one which was being aged in the vat, one in an old oak barrel, and one in a new oak barrel. The wines had only been put into the barrels a couple of weeks ago, but already it was possible to taste the difference between the wines.

After this full morning, we had worked up a good appetite! Before sitting down to lunch we refreshed our palates with the Clairet, a deep-coloured rosé wine that is made by drawing off some of the wine at the beginning of the maceration process.

Over lunch of Landaise duck confit salad, skewered steak with Bordelaise sauce, potato gratin and vegetables, cheese, and café gourmand, we tasted the 2014 and 2015 vintages of the Château Coutet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, and the Château Belles-Cimes 2014, the winery’s second wine.

The conversation flowed over lunch, and we listened intently to the wonderful story of the Cuvée Emeri. When cleaning out the family cellar, Alain stumbled across an old bottle of wine buried in the earth floor. The bottle was still full and had been closed with a glass stopper in the shape of a heart. After having had the bottle analysed, it is estimated that it dates from around 1750, making it one of the oldest bottles of wine in the world! Alain’s nephew, Adrien David-Beaulieu, then had the idea to try and recreate the wine as closely as possible using the oldest vines in the vineyard. These vines are nurtured manually, the heavier work of tilling the soil done by horse. The grapes are then hand-picked and sorted by hand, berry by berry. The resulting wine is then put into hand-blown bottles that are made individually by one of France’s leading master glass blowers. And the stopper is of course also made of glass in the shape of a heart, just like the original. It took four years for the master wine blower to successfully recreate the liquid and airproof bottle!

After lunch, we walked up onto the plateau where the vines stretch across to the village of Saint-Emilion, less than a kilometre away. This is the most prestigious area for the Saint-Emilion vineyards and is where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are to be found. We took a few minutes to take some pictures and enjoy the surrounding scenery. On the way we talked about the different terroir and work currently being carried out to prune the vines and attach the remaining branches to the training wires.

Back at the winery, we then talked about how the wine is prepared for bottling and bottled. We debated the use of sulphites, and talked about the choice of corks used. We then went into the store and saw the machine in action that puts the capsules and labels on the bottles just before they are ready for consumption.

And so the day drew to a close. We’d learnt a great deal, and saw just how varied and complex the life of a winemaker is. We’ll now have to be patient as our wine slowly ages, but the wait for our personalised bottles will be surely worth it! Many thanks to Alain and Juliette at Château Coutet, and to all of the participants for making this such a great day!